Ch. 25 - The Three Doors to Nibbāna

There are Three Doors to the Insight that Cuts Off the Attachment that Causes Suffering

Anicca, Impermanence

Dukkha, Suffering

Anatta, The Truth of No-Self

You Cannot Slay the Ego as an Act of Will

[This discourse was given on an eight day Vipassanā Retreat and describes the three contemplations on annica, dukkha, anatta, that lead to the realisation of Nibbāna and how at different stages in our practice we will need to contemplate these different marks of conditioned existence to make further progress.]

There are Three Doors to the Insight that Cuts Off the Attachment that Causes Suffering

There are three doors to the insight that cuts off the attachment that causes suffering, three doors that lead to realisation of Nibbāna. Nibbāna is the unconditioned state, it is the cessation of conditioned states, the state that does not arise and pass, the state that is not subject to conditions, or the deathless state, call it what you will. So, if it is our goal to realise this cessation, this causal cessation of suffering, which is the realisation of Nibbāna, then there is a discrete path that leads there and this is the unique aspect of the Buddha’s teaching.

There are many ways to realise the momentary cessation of suffering. There are many kinds of spiritual practice that put us into a state where sukha is present and there is no dukkha or suffering present. Remember dukkha is not happiness, sukha is happiness, which is the absence of dukkha or suffering. It is not difficult to enter momentarily into these states. There are many practices in meditation where the feeling of happiness arises in us, sometimes for sustained periods. It may even sustain us outside of our practice for some hours, weeks, maybe months. But this does not constitute the causal cessation of suffering. The unique aspect of the Buddha’s teaching is this Eightfold Noble Path that leads to the causal cessation of suffering, where there is no capacity left within us to suffer. That is the real liberation.

So, when we are practising, there are three doors that lead to the realisation of Nibbāna, which are the seeing into the truth of anicca (impermanence), dukkha (suffering), anatta (no-self). Maybe later I need to explain actually more about what this Nibbāna is? But at the moment I have introduced you to, or explained to you and asked you to investigate the truth of impermanence. And it’s through seeing impermanence that we may be inclined to turn away from our attachment to the conditioned states and in the moment of our non-clinging to the conditioned states, we recognise a moment of not being afflicted by them.

Anicca, Impermanence

So, clinging is partially broken down by the insight into impermanence, but it is seeing Nibbāna that performs the function of cutting off at the root our clinging. So, prior to realising Nibbāna, it is seeing impermanence that is a prompt to start dismantling our attachment, but we have to have a willingness to let go. Eventually, when your insight into the Dhamma matures, with the realisation of Path Knowledge, the letting go becomes a choiceless process. Seeing Nibbāna cuts off at the root the causes of suffering. When you see that which is free from suffering there is no more inclination to engage with that which is suffering.

Okay, it may not happen immediately, and there are what we call four stages in the realisation, four stages of awakening, that cut off the ego, in stages.

Dukkha, Suffering

So what actually is the cause of suffering? This idea of self is the cause of suffering. All clinging is rooted in the idea of self. There is no clinging which is not rooted in the idea of me. So really, our practice of vipassanā is to dismantle this idea of self, this ego. We practise this by reviewing impermanence as I have described.

We also can do it by reviewing impermanence and reflecting on dukkha, suffering, the absence of happiness, that is caused by the friction of this clinging to these conditioned states that are impermanent. We deeply enter into the friction, the experience of suffering, making the reflection, “This clinging is my dukkha. What is my dukkha? My clinging is my dukkha, my clinging is my suffering.” In some people reflecting upon and seeing into suffering opens the door to the realisation of Nibbāna. And it does it by creating a greater willingness to relinquish than the reflection upon impermanence alone produces.

Anatta, The Truth of No-Self

And the third door is anatta, which is the knowledge of the truth of no-self, when you realise there IS no self, that the idea of yourself is a fabrication in the mind. As the Buddha said, “This self is an illusion, it is a vanity, it is a conceit,” and through coming to see and know this to be the truth, you are prompted to let go your attachment. What does the Buddha mean by this no-self, this anatta? It does not mean that you are not engaged in an extremely personal experience, moment to moment, of what is. You are! But you have created such an elaborate idea of yourself around what you are experiencing and this has become your ego, or your idea of yourself, that drives your life and everything you do in it.

Through this particular set of sense doors, these eyes, the ears, nose, tongue, and through this body and at this heart base, you are experiencing the suchness of things, and to you it is an extremely personal experience. But actually, in truth, it is not personal. The suchness of that experience itself is not personal. When the sense of ‘me’ is out of the way, you will experience it exactly the same way as everybody else will when they are out of the way.

What separates you from that complete awakened experience is your idea of yourself. This belief in the idea of ‘me’, this experience is ‘mine’, it’s all about ‘me’, these are ‘my’ things, this is ‘my’ idea, this is ‘my’ feeling, this is how ‘I’ feel, ‘I’m’ this, ‘I am’ like this, this is ‘my’ body, this is ‘my’ awareness; this extraordinary charade, this extraordinary pantomime that we build up around this idea of me.

This is suffering and this is the cause of suffering. It is the cause for our clinging – the desire to make that experience ‘mine’, the desire to make those things that I experience ‘mine’, the desire to hold onto them, see them as ‘mine’. This is the root of all our suffering. This is that which keeps us separate from the suchness of the awakened experience. For some of us, it is the seeing the truth of no-self, or seeing that ‘self’ is the cause of suffering, that creates the strongest willingness to relinquish.

So, some of us can see Nibbāna through the door of impermanence, some can see Nibbāna through immersing themselves in the experience of suffering and some see Nibbāna through the realisation that this is not ‘me’, this ‘me’ is a fabrication, through the knowledge of no-self.

There are times upon your path of vipassanā where your insight will mature through the reflection of impermanence and it will cause a cutting off of your clinging and attachment and there will be a point where you won’t get any further like that. You might come to reflect; “I’m just sitting here, I’m seeing impermanence, but I am still clinging to this and that.”

At this point you should change. You should start to reflect upon dukkha, suffering, experiencing the suffering that is still there, “I appear to be letting go, but why am I still suffering?” You are still suffering because you’re not letting go, you’re not letting go the thing that you actually have to let go, which is your idea of you and your pride that compares yourself to others in myriad ways all the time. You might be thinking, “I let go of my attachment to my car, I let go my attachment to my job, I let go my attachment to my family, I accept everything the way it is,” but while you are still clinging to the idea of ‘me’, you fool yourself and actually you haven’t really let go.

So eventually you may start to reflect, “Well, why is it I don’t yet experience peace? I still experience friction, this friction is my dukkha, my suffering.” And you must experience this dukkha deeply, entering into this dukkha completely. “This suffering is from clinging, this subtle agitation, I don’t feel free all the time, I don’t feel at peace all the time, I feel weighed down. But by what? By my clinging.” Reflecting upon your suffering opens the door further and you let go more and more completely.

Then later on you may reflect upon the truth of no-self, contemplating, “Where is this suffering coming from? It is because in every experience I see myself, I see this idea of me in everything I do, I see everything as happening to me, everything I say to somebody, every action I take, there is always me there, my ideas of me impinging upon the experience. Gosh, this me really is a vexation.”

We are not talking about self-annihilation. You’re not going to disappear in a puff of smoke when you stop clinging to your idea of yourself. This extraordinary thing which is the human life will continue to function free of your clinging to your idea of yourself for as long as there is kamma for it to do so. And at this point it will become functional rather than volitional, no longer will-driven, desire-driven, ego-driven.

So, how far will the reflection of impermanence carry you? That remains to be seen. We’re going to keep working with this reflection of impermanence, see how much attachment it will dismantle in us and sometimes we may look at the reflection of no-self. But, in my experience teaching people, you have to walk up to this insight gradually. If you take too much insight into no-self too quickly it can really shake you up because you get the insight at one level but you can’t experience it deeply enough to turn it into your liberation and you get stuck with the idea, this ‘me’ is a bundle of suffering, what can I do to be rid of it? And you’ve got this frightful idea that you’ve got to abandon yourself somehow.

It does not work the way you think does. I said to somebody in interviews earlier on today, “There is no resolution in your mind, you cannot understand what the process of awakening is, you cannot understand what it is like, it is something that comes upon you experientially as you lose sight of yourself and enter more completely into the moment. This experience is liberating, yet contemplating the idea of me not being there is quite terrifying, so don’t bother thinking about it, you’ll just disturb yourself.”

The practice is to meditate so that we enter more and more completely into an experience until we can’t see ourselves there any more; this is what is meant by no-self. If you start thinking about the idea there is no Jemma, this is no George, or there is no Ben, then you might think, “Gosh, what? The world without me; it can’t possibly be!” And it violates you, it violates your ego and then you’ve got conflict. So you have to really see no-self and come to the experience of no-self as satisfying and not vexing, and then you’ll stop seeing self in your experience.

So you reach a point where you see no-self within your experience, you see the suffering within your experience, you see the impermanence within your experience and this performs the function of cutting off your attachment. This is how we practise vipassanā. It’s a very deep operation, that changes us profoundly and we need to work at a very personal pace and keep pace with ourselves – we want to work at the pace that blissfully carries us.

You Cannot Slay the Ego as an Act of Will

You cannot slay your ego as an act of will. Your ego IS an act of will and you can’t say to yourself, “I must let go.” This doesn’t work. You will blissfully, choicelessly and effortlessly let go when you see deeply enough that clinging doesn’t serve you, that clinging is causing you suffering. So let your meditative experience do the work for you.

Those who try to perform the operation in their mind create only conflict, so don’t think about it, there is nothing to resolve in your mind. Your meditation carries you every step of the way and then you will remain comfortable with where you are at each stage. The moment you try to project forwards using your mind you create conflict, so just relax. That much you see into, that much you’ll let go, be happy with where you are all of the time because it is where you are meant to be.

So it is very profound. It takes a long time to fathom this Dhamma. It’s not what it appears to be when we sit and read the suttas. What happens to us is not what we imagine. So, ease your way into it, imbibe it in your practice, watch this come upon you over weeks and months and years, let it change you profoundly, not just change your view. We’re not practising so we can change our view, we’re practising so that we can be happy, so we can be free from suffering.

If you practice vipassanā diligently and properly then you will realise the causal cessation of suffering. And as you move towards this, keep practising your concentration, keep developing your equanimity and practise serenity, so that you have access to the momentary cessation of suffering when you sit on the cushion. And just rest, before you come, in a timely way, to realise the causal cessation of suffering.

So, find a pace that you are comfortable with. Just ease your way into it and let the Dhamma carry you, let the practice carry you. When friction arises, i.e. you experience friction rising within you, let it go. It is just compactness and too much self in your experience.

If friction arises and you can’t let it go, something’s going wrong. Do you understand, you’re pushing yourself, you’re trying to do it with your mind, you’re trying to create a contract with yourself, “I need to let go, I understand this Dhamma and this clinging is not good for me.” But if you don’t choose to let go, you’re not ready to let go, so don’t beat yourself up about it.

Once you get to the point where you understand what is for your well-being and what is for the well-being of others, and what is not for your well-being, and what is not for the well-being of others, “This I will do and this I will not do.” Once you’ve got down to that point where you start to be virtuous with the way in which you conduct yourself, it doesn’t matter if it takes you from now until the end of time to realise the cessation of suffering, because you will always be moving in the right direction. It works at the pace that it needs to work for you. So, don’t cook yourself with it, let it open up, and each step of the way, enter into where you have arrived at each step of the way.

When you enter onto this Path Knowledge of the cessation of suffering, should you choose to, it is a milestone that is so profound and moving, because goodness knows how long we’ve been round and round this wheel of good fortune, misfortune, coming out of misfortune, into good fortune, falling out of good fortune, happy, suffering, happy, suffering etc. Goodness knows! When you find the way that leads out of this into an unconditioned state that is beyond suffering, it is very, very moving, at a soul level, and it is extremely personal.

You’ve wandered this round of lifetime after lifetime, getting into trouble and finding your way out and then getting into trouble again and finding your way out, for aeons. And the point at which you decide, “I’ve had enough of getting myself into a muddle and I’m not going to do it any more.” This is a very deep and profound process, and it’s not a race! There’s no-one that can tell you that you have to do it. You have to keep pace with your soul, your heart and your own evolution along the path. That way it is a harmonious journey.

As we learn dhamma and as it sinks into us, as we imbibe it, just imbibing it is profound, even just a little bit at the beginning is profound. We can finally see something that is beyond the idea of just creating a condition for happiness now, and are instead looking at something that is removing the conditions for unhappiness. So, impermanence, suffering, no-self, these are all doors to Nibbāna.

Down the line, your meditation on impermanence may turn into a meditation on the experience of suffering within you, it may turn to the experience of no-self or how the experience of self is suffering. In those moments when, “I’m just with what I’m doing,” beyond my idea of self, suddenly there’s a spontaneity, suddenly there’s a presence, there’s an openness, there’s a spaciousness that is not crowded out. It’s your first glimpse.

So to sum up, you see Nibbāna while reviewing impermanence, suffering or no-self of either mind or matter. So your object of contemplation is either materiality, or mentality; any one of the five aggregates. It is whilst reviewing the body as impermanent or suffering or no-self or it is while reviewing the mind as impermanence or suffering or no-self that we see the arising and passing, arising and passing, arising and passing of these conditioned states. It is whilst ignoring the arising that we start to pay attention only to the passing away. We watch the passing away momentarily of body and mind, seeing it as impermanent, suffering or no-self and in that moment in which our clinging drops completely we stay in the passing away, we stay in the non-arising of conditioned states, even for a moment, and we see formations come to cessation. This is Nibbāna.

How we practise vipassanā, gradually, is to develop this experience of arising and passing as I explained. To sit behind and break the fixation on the appearance of things, to perceive their arising and passing and then watch them passing away, passing away and gone, and stay there.

Normally we would say that when ‘nāma rūpa’, mind and matter, is gone, you don’t know it’s gone, because you’re unconscious, you’re asleep, you’re nowhere, you don’t know. But when nāma rūpa is gone and you know it’s gone and you stay in their non-arising, this is the unconditioned state. So, it’s not sequential, your mind will draw you into the reflection of one or other of these three things, these three doors, at various times along the way.